


A Bronx Girl

by twowritehands



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Age Difference, Established Relationship, F/M, Gil PULLS, Yes that means Dani is Malcolm's new mom, crack prompt taken seriously, secret canon maybe, what if Malcolm had mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 17:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twowritehands/pseuds/twowritehands
Summary: In which,  Gil doesn't know how to tell Malcolm he is dating again.Dani doesn't know how she feels about Gil's adopted son.And Malcolm is totally oblivious, because murder is more fun to think about.





	A Bronx Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Guessing at ages here. Let's say Gil is in his fifties and Dani is in her thirties. 

"You know the FBI fired me, right?"

"Good thing I work for the NYPD. I told you you're not a Fed guy."

They climbed in the car. Gil couldn't help smiling proudly, even though no compliments floated his way. Malcolm wasn't the type to fawn over a set of wheels; to him it was just another fancy car in his fancy life. Gil didn't take it personally. 

He was excited to solve crime with Malcolm… until they got to the crime scene, anyway.

The moment he spied Dani coming toward them, his stomach dropped. This was not a good idea. 

"Who's this?" she asked, giving the kid side eye when he snatched the file from her hand.

It was too hot for a turtle neck all the sudden. Mouth dry, Gil made introductions as the elevator doors slid closed.

Malcolm smirked to be called 'acquired taste' but his eyes stayed riveted to the medical examiner's report. He could care less about making friends right now. There was a murder to play with.

The elevator rose slowly. Eerily quiet.

Gil risked a glance at Dani. She was smacking her gum, dark eyes glittering with surprise. It was written all over her face--

_ Is that Mal?!? _

Gil minutely nodded his head. _ Don't freak out. _

She bumped a shoulder and popped her gum, the picture of apathy. But he knew that inside, she was anything but. She'd seen all the photo albums at his place. All those pictures of him and Jackie hugging their little bright eyed stray. The child they never had. In all of them, Malcolm had been a pudgy faced little boy. Not a scruffy man in designer clothes.

Gil could tell--it was only just now really hitting her that her boyfriend had a son her age. 

Well, surrogate son. But still… 

He begged her with his eyes. _ Don't freak out. _

Dani stayed cool on the outside. God love her. Maybe Gil could actually get away with this. Though it definitely felt like playing with lightning. 

The elevator opened. JT met them with his run down of the crime scene, and there was the thunder for Gil. 

His bachelor lifestyle clashed with his inner family man. There was simply no escaping the fact that JT and Malcolm and Dani were all the _same age_. Which made Gil old. 

Too old for Dani.

Jackie had made him swear to Move On one day, but surely she never meant this--dating a subordinate half his age. He could see that now. It was like waking up from a fever dream. What had he been thinking?

Well, he knew what he was thinking. He was just a man.

And, Bronx girls. God help him, Gil had a type. He could have lived happily this way for years if Malcolm hadn't come back to town. Now he felt like a creep.

How long would it be before Malcolm picked up on it?

***

"I'll get started on a profile," Malcolm said and headed back inside from the crime scene rooftop. As he went, he passed Dani as she came out into the night air. 

Dani gave him her friendly but tough girl nod. Malcolm seemed not to even see her. He was lost in some dark thoughts, shrinking inside himself.

Being snubbed made fire flash through Dani's eyes. "Yeah nice meeting you, too," she called after him.

No answer as Malcolm disappeared into the stairwell. Dani stood looking after him with her jaw open in offense. As a beautiful woman with a gun, she wasn't used to being ignored.

When Malcolm was gone, she turned to Gil with a brow raised. He could tell that she had some Thoughts about that boy's manners.

"Be nice," Gil warned. He wanted to explain the significance of the copycat killer and why Malcolm had every right to retreat from the world for a bit after the surprise of it. But he couldn't do that. It wasn't his information to go spreading around.

Dani exhaled her annoyance and grinned as she reached Gil. "A heads up would have been nice. You know I don't like surprises."

"I know you're lying when you say that," Gil said.

She crossed her arms and inhaled. "Malcolm Bright in the flesh." She exhaled with a kind of shoulder roll, looking after where he'd gone. "You never told me he was so…" she trailed off and was that the shadow of a smile? A glint of intrigue in her eye?

Oh god.

Gil narrowed his eyes. "So what?"

"_ Snobby _," she finished.

Gil cracked up because he'd been expecting other adjectives. Handsome. Eccentric. Maybe even creepy. But this was why he adored Dani. She zigged when anyone else would zag.

"Ha. Did I never tell you his parents are East End Socialites?"

She tilted her head. "No. And this whole time I thought his locked up dad and boozy mom were more of a homegrown in your neighborhood kind of thing."

"You know as well as I do that people can be horrible anywhere. Even the clean parts of town."

"Poor kid," she said. Then she cut her eyes to Gil, the sadness flashing out of them to be replaced by humor. "Does he know about you and me?"

Gil cleared his throat. "No."

She cocked her hip, her chin going up and her eyebrow twitching. 

"I'm not ashamed of you," Gil hurried to say.

"You're damn right you're not," she returned. But she softened and took his hand. "But... maybe you're ashamed of yourself? Hm?" she moved in, tilting her head as her face came near. "Am I close to the mark there?"

Gil exhaled with a groan of frustration. She could see right through him and it was a damn inconvenience. That's what it was. "Yes."

She took his face in her hands. Her eyes were so kind. So loving. "Jackie wanted you to move on. And it's been a year. So… what's there to be ashamed of?"

"I'll give you 26 reasons," he said.

She smacked her lips and scoffed. "For real? Dammit, Gil, I was 26 years younger than you six months ago and that didn't slow you down."

"Maybe it should have!" he grumped. "Seeing you next to Mal--I don't know, Dani. It just hit me. You're his age and he is _ so _ young."

"He's not _ that _ young. You just remember him as a kid. And I _ know _ you haven't forgotten how fast _ I _ had to grow up."

No, he hadn't forgotten. He pursed his lips, ready to stand his ground but she continued, poking him in the chest. "You're going to tell me that 30 years in the Bronx is the same thing as 30 years as a prince of Manhattan?"

Gil covered his eyes with a sigh of relief. She made so much sense and it was exactly what he needed to hear. "You're right."

She snorted in agreement.

"Alright, come on. It's cold up here." As they headed together back downstairs, she said, "I was going to go home with you, but not anymore." Gil smacked his lips in protest and she ignored it. "You have to get your head right. So I'll see you tomorrow."

Gil pouted and took her hand. "My head is right. You knocked sense right back into it."

His sweet talking wasn't working. Well, it was working, but her will was stronger. "Nah-uhuh. You don't get to call me a baby as a lead up to dumping me and then have your way with me in the same night."

"I wasn't going to dump you," he said. He tried to believe it so it would sound more convincing.

"Yeah, sure," Dani kissed his cheek before they emerged from the ground level stairwell entrance. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him. "See you in the morning, _ old man _."

***

"I have to give them a hand," Bright said, brandishing a cooler and stumbling away. Dani watched him go in shock and total confusion. What the hell?

She turned to catch up as Bright hurried to the ambulance. Before she got there, JT broke away from the paramedics and met her. He was green. "Heads up, the--there's a-- a _ lot _ of blood over there so…"

He had stripped away his jacket and overshirt--both had been soaked in blood--and now had a shock blanket around his shoulders. He spoke in and around controlling his gag relax

Gil joined them, looking concerned but also with his Full Report Now face.

"What happened? Did shrapnel get him?"

"No, we were already in the hallway with the door closed when it exploded."

"Then how did the guy's hand come off?"

"One fell swing," JT said. He turned ever more green and made a vague axe motion.

"The hell does that mean?" Gil demanded. 

"Bright did it," JT said. "He grabbed an axe and chopped the guy free of the handcuffs that were holding him to the bomb."

"He WHAT? Gil roared and stormed over toward the ambulance. Dani's jaw hit the asphalt.

"You're joking!"

"No. I saw it happen. It--uh--" Whatever JT had been about to say, he cut off with a gag. "It made this meaty chunk sound when it came down on his arm." he did gag then and doubled over. Dani jumped out of the splatter zone.

Over at the ambulance, Gil had his hand clamped tight on Bright's shoulder, cradling the back of his head in the most iconic Worried Father hold of all time. It stopped her right in her tracks.

Like, whoa. 

He really did care for Bright like his own son. It wasn't just an exaggeration of their friendship. And what was more--Bright loved him back. He didn't pull away from Gil as he had pulled from her. He let himself be checked over. 

Dani frowned at the strange feeling emerging within her. What was this? Jealousy? No, no. More like a yearning to... what? Belong? To be accepted?

"Damn it," she muttered. 

Because there went her last strand of self denial. This thing with Gil was more than they pretended it was. At least for her.

She scoffed and paced away for some air. This feeling wasn't exactly new to her. She had dated men with kids before. Now suddenly, Gil was in that box. And….

And… 

Did she want to be Bright's step mom?!?

"That's so fucked up…" she muttered. 

JT had rejoined her, wiping the puke from his lips. "I know. He barely even hesitated. Weirdo."

"Hey," she warned automatically. 

JT did a slight double take, then looked from her to Gil and the city boy and back.

He flapped his lips, wearily amused, as ever, when it came to her "Thing" with their boss. "You gotta be kidding me," he bitched. 

She tilted her lips. 

He laughed again. And just like that, her secret longing to be a mom was out. Kept it to herself 15 whole seconds that time, at least. 

She slapped her partner on the back. She was pretty bad at keeping things to herself, but JT was a walking vault for secrets.

***

Dani hadn't been tackled since the academy. She didn't like it. But she understood it wasn't Bright's fault.

Judging by his background--a dad in prison and a mom too stoned to look out for him--she wasn't surprised he had some demons. 

What were they, exactly? Gil never had said what Bright's dad had done to be in prison. But Dani was willing to bet that if it left an intelligent full grown man with night terrors, she didn't want the details.

Small wonder Gil was so damned protective of him. There was a fragility to Malcolm Bright that was apparent to anyone paying attention. And Dani was paying attention. Because--in every way that mattered--Bright was Gil's son and what Gil loved Dani knew she could love, too.

Even if what Gil loved was a socially awkward man crazy enough to chop off a hostage's hand.

Bright was at Gil's desk, talking. He must have brought up Jackie because Gil did that nervous habit thing where he twirled the ring on his finger. 

Yeah, he still wore it. He probably always would. Dani wasn't going to make him stop. It'd been a marriage of over twenty years. Dani was a girlfriend of six months. It wasn't her place.

She tried not to watch them as they talked. But she couldn't help it. If they were on the topic of Jackie… did that mean Gil was going to tell him he was seeing someone?

***

"You weren't going to let him do that, were you? Were you?!"

"Of course not. That'd be crazy." Malcolm said, panting for breath. He was 90 percent sure he would have stopped it, had Gil's shot come even one second later. 

Powell stalked off toward Gil. Though she crossed her arms and tried to lower her voice, the sound still carried to Malcolm's ear. 

"I need to talk to you."

"Everything alright?" Gil asked with trademark concern.

"I hope so."

She led Gil into the hallway. Fearful this had to do with her opinion on his state of mind, Malcolm extracted himself from the paramedic and moved to the door to listen.

"You look shaken up. What happened back there?" Gil asked. 

"Well, first, Bright's real name is Whitly."

"He told you that? I'm sorry I didn't tell you but--"

"No, that's fine. I get that you couldn't. Whatever. A lot of shit just went down and I'm still processing--What _ are _ we?"

"What are we? What kind of question is that?"

"The right one for me to ask right now. I almost took a bullet to the head. And now I suddenly need to know. What are we doing? Y'know?"

Gil didn't immediately respond. Malcolm waited with baited breath.

Powell continued, "This was fun when it was secret and it was about helping you move on, and then JT figured it out and it didn't stop. Now it's been six whole months? I've never been with someone this long and have it still feel like it was new. I don't know what this is. We keep pretending like it's a game that we can stop at any point, but it's not, is it? Tell me it's not."

"It's not." Gil finally said. 

Malcolm's eyebrows lifted at that. Gil was in love with someone Not Jackie... Huh. He hadn't expected it, but then healthy coping and well adjusted love affairs were hardly his area of expertise.

Gil's voice rumbled next, "Malcolm being here changes a lot... I get it if this isn't what you want."

The hell did that mean? Was Gil seriously about to put him before a beautiful woman? That wasn't right. It was sweet as hell but wrong. Malcolm made a move for the door for a dramatic entrance, but Powell's voice stopped him. 

"Gil," she sounded mean but also like she was grinning. "Shut up."

The unmistakable wet smack of a lippy kiss. Malcolm relaxed, pleased.

Then he hastened from the door before he was caught. The pair returned to the room one at a time. Very discreet.

He tried to look busy, aloof. When would Gil tell him about this?

"MALCOLM!" Jessica Whitly shrieked from the police tape barricade.

His entire body seized, but then he turned as if only hearing his name at a cocktail party. He feigned surprise to see her, smiled and wagged his fingers. "Oh, hello, Mother! Sorry, but I must run. Talk soon!"

He joined the team of paramedics wheeling the loaded bodybag into the elevator. Jessica sputtered in outrage, but the uniformed cops never let her put a toe over the line. Her VIP status had no traction here. 

One of the paramedics gave him a knowing grin. He chuckled. 

God, he loved a good crime scene.

***

Back at the precinct, everyone sat down to write up their reports. Malcolm thought about how often it had been Detective Powell there first after the near misses, checking on him with an energy only matched by Gil.

Almost like a mother. Except his age. Ha. No wonder Gil was so tight lipped about it....

He stepped over to Powell's desk.

She looked up at him with a patient look in her eyes. Wise beyond her years, which answered many of his questions. 

"Need something, Bright?"

He tilted his lips, glanced into Gil's office. "Have the two of you said I love you yet?"

Her ink pen went flying across the desk and pinged off her computer screen. "What? How--did you--?!?"

"Please, I'm a profiler," he said. More like an eavesdropper, but hey. He had observed plenty of micro reactions between the pair during the ride over here that suggested an intimate connection. It was fair to say he would have seen it earlier if the Copycat case hadn't given him tunnel vision.

She accepted this answer with a half grin. "No. We haven't said it yet. The guy just lost his wife."

"Over a year and a half ago."

"But I'm the first woman he has been with since. So. Y'know."

Malcolm bunched his lips. "Not really."

She sighed. "I don't want to pressure him."

Comprehension made his lips smack. "You want him to say it first."

She looked down and to the side, bumped a shoulder. Then something occurred to her and she looked up at him. "Don't tell him any of this!"

"Duh," he said with a light laugh.

She shut her eyes, weary at herself, and laughed too.

"It's not just his wife. Or the age difference. It's work too. I mean, dating a fellow cop can get complicated."

"JT knows," Malcolm guessed. 

"Of course. He's my partner. No secrets allowed."

"That sounds really nice."

Powell looked over at JT and then Gil, and then back to him. "If you join the team you'll be my partner too."

Genuine surprise straightened Malcolm's spine. "I will?"

"Well, duh. That's what being on a team means."

He blinked. He didn't know anyone who knew _all_ his secrets. But with the worst one already out in the open here, the prospect was more exciting than scary. 

He smiled softly. "I'd like that."

***

They didn't know Gil could see them. But he was watching them via there different reflections and casual glances.

Malcolm was making Dani laugh. Between his clean cut look and her real woman curves, they made a cute couple. Christ, their kids would be _ gorgeous _.

Malcolm leaned over a file with Dani at her desk and they had something to talk about in low voices. What was it? Why was Malcolm grinning at her like that?

"Don't look so murdery, Gil," JT said. His voice was cool, causal. Might as well be talking about the weather. He didn't even look up from his file.

"Hm?" Gil snapped out of his jealousy induced tunnel vision. He realized he'd been clicking his pen obsessively. With his jaw clenched.

_ You always were my caveman _, Jackie used to snort whenever she could tell that he had seen her flirting. It had only ever been harmless flirting. Sometimes, he thought she'd done it just to make him steam... Because that made other things steamier.

Was Dani doing the same thing?

Or was she realizing she didn't want to have to nurse her husband while her kids were in highschool?

Gil checked himself. Kids? They were six months in. He had to cool it. Way the fuck down.

But even backing off that train of thought, he still didn't like what he was looking at. A younger--and let's face it far more successful--guy holding all of Dani's attention.

Gil looked over at JT, asking lowly. "Dead wife is sexier than lunatic father, am I right?"

JT nodded with his little reassuring frown. "You got nothin' to worry about, boss."

"I know that," he said, shaking out his shoulders and sinking back in his creaking chair. And the majority of him believed it. Really. There was just that one tiny piece that was just ever so slightly concerned.

He shot a glance their way even though he thought he absolutely wouldn't. He saw that they were working now. No giggles. No whispers.

"He's not her type," JT said.

"And how do you know?" Gil asked, eyes narrowing.

"He completely lacks machismo, for one thing," To this Gil cracked a smile. JT continued, "And he's a nerd. Way too bookish. Probably went to some fancy university."

"Harvard," Gil said proudly.

JT smirked. "And he's a shrink, right?"

"Well, no, but he is in the field of psychology."

"You say potato, Dani says shrink. She would _ never _ date a shrink from Harvard."

"You're saying Dani Powell doesn't date sophisticated men."

"Exactly."

"JT. Wanna look me in the eye and say that again?"

JT looked up and right at him. "Boss, you're a damn fine cop, but you take a fake smoke break just to spit sunflower shells at pigeons. You used the precinct microwave to warm your socks last January."

"Point made." Gil wadded up a piece of paper and threw it at the junior detective's face.

***

Gil exhaled when Malcolm walked out of Claremont Psychiatric looking as calm and collected as when he had gone in. Good. He must have gotten his Answer then.

If Gil had his druthers, Malcolm would not have kept his word about coming back here. What could Martin Whitly do to him if he didn't? Nothing. But Malcolm had insisted. At least it was over.

Malcolm climbed into the car.

"Are you okay? We can grab a beer. Talk."

"I'm good. Really. Thanks for driving me."

"As if I'd let you come here alone."

Malcolm pushed air through his nose happily. "When's the next case?"

"Oh, you're not done with this one. You have to meet with the precinct lawyers at 8am tomorrow about Stavros, to cover the bases. Basic Dos and Don'ts in case of a civil lawsuit."

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Great. Sounds like a blast."

"Well, accountability is a big part of the job. Remember that the next time you let go and trust yourself. But don't worry. JT will be there as a witness to how it all went down."

"Yippee. You were right. That guy doesn't like me very much."

"Give it time…. You and Powell seem to be getting along pretty well, though."

It sounded so casual, even Gil believed he was simply commenting on the weather. 

Malcolm grinned. "We've bonded over common ground."

One thing lifted while something else sank behind Gil's ribs. Hope and trepidation. "Oh yeah?"

A sweetheart head tilt and smile. "Caring about you." 

_ Busted _.

Gil smiled sheepishly. "It's new. I didn't know how to tell you. To tell anyone."

"You really care about her."

He nodded. Tried to think of what to say. Drew a blank.

"You should tell her," Malcolm prompted gently. 

Gil double looked the kid. Because he wasn't a kid anymore, sitting there full grown talking about love like he knew it. 

"Hang on, did you have someone back in DC?"

Alarm flickered through Malcolm's eyes and he smacked his lips primly. "You're deflecting. This is about you and your feelings."

Gil turned a sigh into a moan. This was without doubt the most awkward conversation he had ever had. And that included all the _ Is It Weird That This Turns Me On _ talks Malcolm used to spring on him in his teen years. Because now it was reversed, and Malcolm was trained in psychology. Gil had zero interest in what any of it _ meant _.

"She's nice. I like her. You make a good couple."

"So I have the Bright stamp of approval?" it was slightly ridiculous how much that actually made Gil feel better.

"Of course."

They arrived at Malcolm's building and he climbed out, but tapped the window. Gil lowered it. 

"You know, if Jackie were alive, she and Dani would scratch each other's eyes out over you…" he grinned. "I think that means Jackie would approve, too."

Gil laughed, heart twisting because that was what he had really needed to hear. "Thanks, kid."

Malcolm smiled and walked away.

Gil, smiling, drove to Dani's place. 

_ fin _


End file.
